Footwear emitting a fragrance and method for its fabrication

ABSTRACT

An article of footwear that emits a fragrance includes a fragrance-releasing substance impregnated or incorporated into and absorbed by a part of the footwear such as by infusing the fragrance-releasing substance into the selected part of the footwear article. In one embodiment of the footwear described, the fragrance-releasing substance is incorporated in an ornament that has the appearance of an object in nature that emits a fragrance similar to that emitted by the footwear.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to footwear, and more particularly to a fragranced footwear and a method for its fabrication.

It has been recognized, as stated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,221, that the use of a fragrance in connection with an article of footwear, such as a sandal or an athletic shoe, would enhance the commercial attractiveness and desirability of the footwear to the consumer. As described in this patent, a fragrance is imparted to the footwear by incorporating microcapsules having encapsulated therein a fragrant liquid substance onto a surface of the footwear. To release the fragrance, these microcapsules must be ruptured, such as by scratching the surface of the footwear that includes the microcapsules or by exerting pressure on that surface.

This prior art approach to fabricating and using a footwear that emits a pleasant fragrance is, however, insofar as it requires the wearer to scratch or otherwise rupture the fragrance-enclosing microcapsules, cumbersome to use, particularly for young children who constitute a major market for fragranced footwear. The need to embed the microcapsules that contain the fragrance liquid into the footwear is also relatively complex and expensive, resulting in a relatively high cost of fabrication and thus a higher cost to the consumer.

It would thus constitute an improvement in the art to provide a fragranced footwear in which the fragrant aroma emanates from the footwear automatically and continuously without the need for the wearer to manually scratch, rupture, or otherwise manipulate the footwear in order to release the fragrance.

BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an article of footwear that emanates a fragrance automatically and continuously.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a fragranced footwear that does not require the use of scratching, rupturing or any other type of manipulation to release the fragrance from the footwear.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an article of footwear of the type described which can be fabricated relatively inexpensively and easily.

The footwear of the invention includes a liquid fragrance-releasing liquid substance which is impregnated, such as by an infusion of the fragrant liquid, or otherwise directly applied into a desired part of the footwear. The fragrance-releasing substance may be impregnated into the footwear by manual infusion or otherwise directly applied to the footwear as by the use of a brush or applicator, or by being sprayed onto the desired part of the footwear. Alternatively, the footwear may be directly immersed, either wholly or partially, into a vat or other type of receptacle that contains the liquid fragrance-releasing substance, which is then absorbed into the immersed part of the footwear.

In a further aspect of the invention, a decorative ornament may be attached to the footwear, such as one that is configured as an object found in nature that has a pleasant fragrance such as a fruit or a flower, and the fragrance-releasing substance that is incorporated into the ornament has a fragrance that is associated with that object. For example, the ornament may be in the form and color of an orange and would have impregnated therein a fragrance of a real orange. This fragrance may be incorporated into the entire ornament or a portion thereof by means similar to that described above, that is, by immersion, infusion, or by the application of the fragrance oil to the ornament by spraying or by the use of an applicator.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

To the accomplishment of the above and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to an article of footwear that emits a fragrance and a method for its fabrication, as defined in the appended claims and as described in the following specification as considered with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an article of footwear including a fragrance-emitting substance in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of an article of footwear that includes a fragrance-emitting ornament in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in FIG. 1 an article of footwear, here shown as a sandal or slipper generally designated 10. As in a conventional sandal, footwear 10 includes an insole 12 on which the wearer places his or her foot, an outsole 14, the bottom of which that rests on the ground, perhaps a wedge 16, and an upper or thong 18.

In accordance with the present invention, a fragrance-releasing substance, oil or liquid is directly impregnated or incorporated into all or a selected part of sandal 10, the fragrance of which is thereafter automatically and continuously released from the sandal. The impregnation or incorporation of the fragrance-releasing substance into the footwear may be achieved, for example, by manually infusing the fragrance-releasing liquid into the selected part of the sandal 10, or by applying the fragrance-releasing liquid, such as by the use of a brush or other type of manual applicator so that the fragrance liquid is absorbed into the selected sandal part. Alternatively, the fragrance liquid may be incorporated into the sandal 10 by spraying the fragrance oil onto the selected sandal part or by immersing the selected part of the sandal into a vat or other container containing the fragrance oil so that the fragrance-releasing oil is absorbed into the immersed part of the sandal.

Many different types of fragrances and fragrance oils are commercially available from numerous fragrance manufacturers for use in the practice of the present invention. A non-exclusive list of such manufacturers includes International Flavors and Fragrances, Givaudon, Alpine Aromatics, and Matsui Fragrances. The details of the impregnation or incorporation of the particular fragrance-releasing substance into the footwear 10, as described above, will depend on the type of fragrance-releasing oil used and will be readily apparent to the skilled worker in the art; it is thus not further described here.

FIG. 2 illustrates a variation on the fragranced footwear of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a sandal generally designated 10 a includes a molded ornament 20 securely attached or secured in any known manner to the thong 18. Ornament 20 is preferably made of a suitable plastic material and is of the configuration, and also preferably the color of, an object in nature having a pleasant aroma such as a fruit, for example, an orange or strawberry, or a flower. In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, a fragrance that replicates or simulates the fragrance emitted by the natural object of which ornament 20 is a representation is impregnated or incorporated into the ornament 20. That is, for example, if the ornament 20 represents an orange, the fragrance that is impregnated or incorporated into the ornament 20 will have the aroma or fragrance of a natural orange.

The desired fragrance may be incorporated into the ornament 20 in a manner similar to that described above with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1. That is, a fragrance oil of the desired aroma may be immersed, infused, applied by brush or other type of applicator, or spray painted onto all or any desired part of ornament 20. Alternatively, the ornament may be molded from a polymer resin having the desired fragrance. For example, if ornament 20 is in the form of a strawberry, ornament 20 may be molded from a polymer resin having the fragrance of a strawberry such as International Flavors and Fragrances Polyiff 3335-pbh strawberry (EVA).

It will be appreciated from the foregoing disclosure that the present invention has provided a fragranced article of footwear and a method for its fabrication in which the fragrance emanates from the footwear automatically and continuously until it is depleted. Since the fragrance is not encapsulated, as it is in the prior art, the wearer need not scratch or manually rupture or otherwise manipulate the footwear to release the fragrance from the footwear. It will be further appreciated that the embodiments of the invention hereinabove described are merely illustrative in nature, and that variations may be made to the above-described embodiments, such as the use of the invention in other types of footwear, such as a sneaker, athletic shoe or other sport footwear, without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A method for fabricating an article of footwear including the steps of providing a footwear form having an insole and an outsole, and impregnating into a selected part of said footwear form a fragrance-releasing substance that is absorbed into said footwear part and is thereafter automatically and continuously released from said footwear.
 2. The method of claim 1, in which said fragrance-releasing substance is a fragrance oil, and said impregnating step includes infusing said fragrance oil into said selected footwear part.
 3. The method of claim 1, in which said fragrance-releasing substance is a fragrance oil, said impregnating step including the step of applying said oil directly to said selected footwear part.
 4. The method of claim 3, in which said applying step includes using a brush or applicator or spraying said oil onto said selected footwear part.
 5. The method of claim 1, in which said impregnating step includes the step of immersing said selected footwear part into a container containing said fragrance-releasing substance.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of securing an ornament to said footwear insole that has the configuration of an object, which in nature has a particular natural fragrance, and in which said fragrance-releasing substance releases a fragrance resembling said natural fragrance.
 7. An article of footwear comprising an insole and an outsole, and a fragrance-releasing substance directly impregnated into and absorbed by at least a part of one of said insole and outsole.
 8. The footwear article of claim 7, further comprising an ornament secured to said insole and having the appearance of a natural object having an associated fragrance, said impregnated fragrance-releasing substance emitting a fragrance resembling that of the natural object.
 9. The article of footwear of claim 8, in which said fragrance-releasing substance is impregnated into said ornament.
 10. The article of footwear of claim 9, further including an upper secured to said insole, said ornament being secured to said upper and being configured in the shape of a fragrant fruit or flower.
 11. The article of footwear of claim 9, in which said ornament is molded from a polymer resin containing said fragrance-releasing substance.
 12. An article of footwear including an insole, an upper secured to said insole and an outsole, an ornament in the shape of a fragrant natural object secured to said upper, and a fragrance-releasing substance impregnated into at least a part of said ornament and emitting a fragrance resembling that of said natural object.
 13. The article of footwear of claim 12, in which said ornament is in the shape of a fruit or a flower having aa associated fragrance.
 14. The article of footwear of claim 13, in which said ornament is molded from a polymer resin containing said fragrance-releasing substance. 